New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay a Gujarat High Court order restraining the Railway Ministry from placing before Parliament the Banerjee Committee report on the Godhra train carnage.

A Bench consisting of Justices K.G. Balakrishnan and D.K. Jain, however, issued notice to Neelkanth Tulsidas Bhatia, petitioner in the High Court, on a special leave petition (SLP) filed by the Centre against the order. It also issued notice to the other respondents — the Commissioner of Railway Safety; the Union Ministries of Home and Law and Justice; the Banerjee Committee, the Nanavati Commission and the Gujarat government.

Earlier Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam pleaded for staying the March 20 interim order. But counsel for Mr. Bhatia said if the stay was granted the writ petition before the High Court would become infructuous and the purpose for which it was filed would be lost. The matter was already listed for final disposal and the High Court should be allowed to dispose of the petition.

The High Court held illegal the appointment of the Banerjee Committee to go into the same February 27, 2002 Godhra incident, to probe which the State had already set up the Justice Nanavati Commission.

High Court order assailed

The Centre said the High Court failed to notice that putting fetters on tabling the Banjeree report in Parliament struck at the very root of the doctrine of separation of powers, which was held part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The High Court also failed to note that the Banerjee Committee dealt with various aspects of railway safety including inter-State aspects, which could not have been the subject matter of any State Government-appointed commission.

The SLP said a mere reading of the terms of reference of both commissions would show that there was no overlap.

Contrary to the law laid down by the apex court, the High Court also concluded that the pending trial of criminal cases would be prejudiced if the Banerjee report was published.

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